Outside reading.

For Eisenhower, World War II was building up. He was a commanding officer, and promoted to major general (temporarily) (Ambrose 144). I find this deal weird. Eisenhower keeps getting promoted, but demoted in the near future. Why is not possible just to give someone a rank and let them keep it? Anyway, Eisenhower had 107 officers working under hi in April as part of the Operations Division. The main resource he needed for his job of planning was intelligence/reconnaissance (Ambrose 145). He continued to work his way up, impressing generals. He would take some non-aggressive measures, like avoiding to send a bunch of troops to Northern Ireland(Ambrose 147). He did later build an offensive when the Germans were breaking further into Europe and assigned attacks in mid-1942 (190). He continued to control the timing of when things were done. Things weren't high stakes, yet.

Eisenhower had worked with Winston Churchill to plan the taking of Northern Africa and shifting away from France. The movement took place during November (202). He made a deal with Francois Darlan that the French would support Eisenhower in return for Darlan earning a politcal title (208). I really don't see why one would give resources for a minor political position. Apparently, it must have been more important that it seemed. This "Darlan Deal" was harshly criticized, but had to be done. Darlan was soon assassinated (215). I guess it makes sense, given the "sale" of a politcal office. Eisenhower continued the African campaign, despite this turmoil. The campaign finally ended after six months, with drastic costs: 10,820 men dead, 39,575 wounds, 21415 missing/captured, but a victory is a victory (237). This shows the resilience that a leader must have, one that can tolerate deaths, and just brush them off as "acceptable losses."